America’s Health Rankings 2022 Senior Report by the United Health Foundation summarizes the successes and challenges in the health of older adults (aged 65+) in the United States. This report encompasses 10 years of health data and highlights trends at national and state levels. A significant finding showed that despite years of improvement in the early death rate among adults aged 65-74 (a 4% decrease between 2011 and 2019), the early death rate spiked by 17% in 2020 during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic.
National highlights:
- Older adults who reported very good or excellent health increased by 13%, from 38.4% in 2011 to 43.5% in 2020.
- Older adults who reported receiving a flu vaccination increased by 11%, from 60.6% in 2011 to 67.3% in 2020.
- The number of older adults who died due to drug injury per 100,000 increased 100% from 4.2 in 2008-2010 to 8.4 in 2018-2020.
Hawaiʻi State highlights:
- Hawaiʻi ranks number 7 out of all states.
- Strengths include a low early death rate (1,527/100,000), low prevalence of falls (21.3%), and low hospital readmission rate (14/100).
- Challenges include a low volunteerism rate (25.1%), a low pneumonia vaccination rate (61.9%), and a high prevalence of insufficient sleep (38.6%).
View the 2022 Senior Report and the 2022 Senior Report: State Summaries.
